Great Writing Quotes - Page 2

• Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.

  F. Scott Fitzgerald

  Writing, People, Trying

  F. Scott Fitzgerald (2015). “The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Articles, Letters, Plays & Screenplays: From the author of The Great Gatsby, The Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night, The Beautiful and Damned, The Love of the Last Tycoon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many other notable works”, p.834, e-artnow

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• Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.

  Stephen King

  Get Well, Writing, Making Friends

  FaceBook post by Stephen King from Nov 19, 2013

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• The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

  Andre Gide

  Beautiful, Writing, Madness

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• Don't look back until you've written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceeding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in . . . The edit.

  Will Self

  Real, Mean, Writing

  "Will Self's rules for writers" by Will Self, www.theguardian.com. February 22, 2010.

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• Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.

  Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

  Writing, Judging, Down And

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• Read over your compositions and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Writing, Thinking

  "The Sayings of Doctor Johnson".

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• To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.

  Truman Capote

  Music, Writing, Creativity

  Truman Capote, M. Thomas Inge (1987). “Truman Capote: Conversations”, p.88, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Every writer I know has trouble writing.

  Joseph Heller

  Writing, Young Writers, Trouble

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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• The desire to write grows with writing.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Writing, Desire, Grows

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• When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Powerful, Writing, Character

  Ernest Hemingway (2002). “Death in the Afternoon”, p.153, Simon and Schuster

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• Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.

  Anne Lamott

  Inspirational, Motivational, Voice

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.28, Anchor

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• The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Funny, Humorous

  Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.13, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Teaching

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• There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

  Oscar Wilde

  Book, Reading, Writing

  The Picture of Dorian Gray preface (1891)

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• Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

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• Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day.

  Orson Scott Card

  Writing, Past, Ideas

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• The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wisdom, Writing, Procrastination

  Statement on April 14, 1775. "Life of Samuel Johnson". Book by James Boswell. Volume II, 1791.

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• First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.

  Ray Bradbury

  Hero, Writing, Want

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• You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

  Jack London

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  Jack London (2015). “Jack London on Adventure: Words of Wisdom from an Expert Adventurer”, p.5, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.

  Anais Nin

  Writing, Commitment, Culture

  "Woman as Writer" by Jeannette L. Webber and Joan Grumman, (p. 38), 1978.

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• Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.

  Ray Bradbury

  Writing, Light, White

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• You can't fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.

  William S. Burroughs

  Fake People, Quality, Meals

  William S. Burroughs (1988). “The Western Lands”, Penguin Group USA

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• Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.

  T. S. Eliot

  Witty, Humorous, Writing

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• Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk-away from any open flames-to remind yourself that if you don't write daily, you will get rusty.

  George Singleton

  Writing, Flames, Desks

  George Singleton (2008). “Pep Talks, Warnings, And Screeds: Indispensable Wisdom And Cautionary Advice For Writers”, p.59, Writer's Digest Books

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• Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.

  Ray Bradbury

  Writing, Careers, Inspire

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